Paul Gottfried

February 17, 2009

With all due respect to Razib Khan, whose contributions to this website I usually enjoy, there seems to be a misunderstanding about the intent of my remarks about cultural illiteracy. I was certainly not attacking religionists; nor do I believe that because a ?majority? of the population accepts a ?creationist slant? on evolution, they are therefore stupid or ignorant. For the record, no one was asked on the Gallup Poll about ?creationism.? Moreover, I myself lean strongly toward the intelligent design position; and I have recommended the works of both Michael Behe and Anthony Flew, who make strong cases for that view from different technical perspectives. I would therefore be the last person in the world to make fun of Americans because they accept the existence of a Supreme Being, who is responsible for the Laws of Nature. There is much to be said for that position, and like Aquinas, Kant, and Descartes, I am profoundly impressed by the teleological argument for God?s existence. Razib Khan, unless I mistake his drift, ascribes to me a fideistic or biblical-literalist position I have never held. That said, I would point out that I?m not upset with cultural illiterates because they understand the Bible literally. I was indicating that they never read it.